For English beauty entrepreneur and world-renowned makeup artist Charlotte Tilbury, makeup has always been more than just makeup. It’s about helping women worldwide feel their best, from skincare to choosing the perfect colors for their skin tone. ¶ “Darling, since day one, I have wanted to disrupt, innovate and revolutionize the beauty industry with my artistic expertise, my passion for science and my vision for technology,” says Tilbury, the brand’s president, chairman, chief creative officer and founder.
The Before
Tilbury started her professional career as a makeup artist, a path she seemed destined to take. When she was 13, she moved from Ibiza back to her native London to attend boarding school, where she started experimenting with makeup. She quickly realized her passion. Friends would flock to her for makeup advice, asking her to show them what colors would compliment them best.
Fast-forward to the early ’90s, when Tilbury started working on photoshoot sets and runway shows. “I remember prepping 30 models for a show, many of whom were fresh off a plane, and their skin would be absolutely exhausted. I needed a moisturizer that could soothe, plump and hydrate the look of skin instantly,” she recalls. “I would mix my own secret blend to give them my signature glow, and when they kept asking for ‘Charlotte’s Magic Cream,’ I knew I had to bottle it for everyone, working closely with a top Swiss laboratory to perfect the formulation.”
Thus, her first product was born. The award-winning Magic Cream contains a Cushion and Lift Mesh Technology that hydrates, re-texturizes, smooths, adds glow and plumps the skin in just 28 seconds.
During her career as a makeup artist, Tilbury felt the market lacked the products to create certain looks, so she decided to fill those gaps and invent her own. “I remember back when powder was cakey; it creased and sat in fine lines. You couldn’t layer it,” she says. Soon after, she introduced Airbrush Flawless Finish Powder. The complexion-enhancing micro powder creates a blurring, smoothing finish that makes the skin look flawless and poreless. “There is nothing else like it on the market!” she says.
In 1998, Tilbury met and began an ongoing friendship with her first celebrity client, Kate Moss, on the set of a photoshoot. This is where Moss’ iconic look — the smoky, feline eye with a nude lip — was invented. Since then, they have collaborated several times, even naming one of Tilbury’s K.I.S.S.I.N.G lipsticks the “Nude Kate.”
The Revolution
Since her ascension in the beauty world, Tilbury has continued to disrupt the industry with innovative products that many brands try to emulate. She achieves this by constantly thinking about what the consumer needs, how to fill the gaps and spending endless hours in a lab, testing and improving ideas until they’re ready. “One thing that has always been non-negotiable for me is that a product does not launch until I know it is right. Sometimes the development phase can take years until we have the perfect product,” says the Kensington, West London native.
It’s no wonder that whenever a new Tilbury product hits the shelves, it instantly goes viral on the internet. Products like the Magic Cream, Pillow Talk collection, Hollywood Contour Wand and the Airbrush Flawless Finish Powder remain a staple in many women’s makeup routines.
Her newest innovations are nothing short of that. The Unreal Skin Sheer Glow Tint Hydrating Foundation Stick is powered by Light-Mapping Mesh Technology and infused with Collageneer (for firmer-feeling, plumper-looking skin), hydrating hyaluronic acid, nourishing daikon radish seed oil and vitamin E. “It started with my vision for three things: I wanted it to look like you have just come from the spa and had the best facial of your life; I wanted to create an undetectable second-skin finish, with sheer to light buildable coverage; and I wanted application to be so speedy and easy that anyone could do it,” she says.
Earlier this year, she launched the Fragrance Collection of Emotions, six fragrances that evoke love, happiness, seduction, calm, energy and empowerment. Her lifelong dream of creating her own fragrance collection comes from her fondest memories and the smells associated with them as a girl in Ibiza. “I remember the sensual patchouli and musk lingering in the hippie markets and my mother Patsy’s favorite trailing fragrance, and how it all evoked such a feeling,” she shares.
When the time was right, she joined forces with world-renowned perfumers to create her dream collection.
“Darling, at Charlotte Tilbury, we never imitate; we always innovate – in formula, ingredients and packaging design,” notes the recipient of the MBE, the British Empire’s third highest order, which recognizes people’s achievements and service to the country.
Trusting the Process
When asked to choose only two products to use for the rest of her life, Tilbury said while it was hard, she’d pick the Magic Cream (no surprise there) and her Pillow Talk Big Lip Plumpgasm. She recently launched this supersizing, maximizing lip plumper in a glaze gloss to take her wildly popular Pillow Talk collection to the next level. To put the product’s success into perspective, one is sold every 10 seconds, according to Forbes.
Like the rest of the line, the lip-plumping gloss amplifies natural beauty. “This innovation became my secret to creating defined, fuller-looking lips in the most universally flattering nude pink hue, made to suit everyone, everywhere.”
Creating the best makeup look begins with the skin. Tilbury’s first tip is to start with the Magic Cream. “It may seem obvious, but moisturizing day and night is essential for healthy-looking skin and a dewy complexion.”
Next, apply primer with SPF. “Don’t forget that an SPF a day helps keep the wrinkles away,” she says. Her Invisible UV Flawless Poreless Primer is an SPF 50 sunscreen that gives the skin a smoothing, hydrated, pore-blurring, flawless finish.
Protecting your skin from the sun doesn’t mean you can’t add some color to your complexion. Tilbury recommends using the Beautiful Skin Sun-Kissed Glow Bronzer to maintain that just-got-back-from-the-beach radiance all year.
Lastly, it’s time to set the look. “I know how hot and humid it can get in Fort Lauderdale, so when it comes to making your makeup last, use my Airbrush Flawless Setting Spray,” she says. The formula is waterproof and guarantees no melting, fading or creasing. She even suggests jumping in the pool to prove it.
The After
Since launching her brand in 2013, Tilbury has become a contributing editor for British Vogue, a global ambassador for Women International and a part of the F1 Academy, the first beauty and female-founded brand to do so. She launched the Easy Beauty for You app, and her products have won over 300 awards.
Her celebrity client list has also grown and includes stars like Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, Jennifer Lopez, Sofia Vergara and Salma Hayek.
In addition, she’s opened two stores, including one at Aventura Mall — her second standalone U.S. store and first on the East Coast. The new flagship location is on the mall’s upper level. “I was inspired by my love of Art Deco and vintage Hollywood to create a boudoir aesthetic, complete with rose gold palm trees, set to a backdrop of my signature shade of Night Crimson, which is the inspiration for my Miami Beauty Wonderland,” says Tilbury.
The “Beauty Wonderland” experience includes in-store treatments and consultations by Team Tilbury, who are ready to spill her red-carpet beauty secrets. These procedures include a 15-minute glow-on-the-go treatment, one-hour signature glow facial, quick-tricks makeup makeover and learning to perfect your ideal Pillow Talk lips.
“By being disruptive and truly believing in my vision, and as a woman at the helm of a rapidly growing business, I hope that I have helped pave the way and inspired other women to do the same,” Tilbury concludes.
